Week 4 FCS Football Power Rankings

September 26, 2022 · Jason Groomes
 
The Madness FCS Power Rankings
 
The Madness FCS Power Rankings are a relatively basic power rating system when compared to the highly complex systems involving comparative scoring formulas. This system uses no comparative scoring, so any parallel between this and other ranking systems is purely coincidental. There is also no momentum involved in these rankings, so “What have you done for me lately?” does not apply. Everything is valued as a whole. The objective remains the same though; to create an unbiased mechanism to sort the general strength of the 128 teams within the Football Championship Subdivision.
 
Teams are awarded for Wins and Points Scored, then penalized for Losses and Points Allowed. Teams also receive a ‘Stature Constant’. These have been backed by historical data, but can and will be adjusted, if an obvious error has been identified. Teams from the full-scholarship automatic qualifying FCS conferences get the highest value. Non- or less than full-scholarship FCS conference teams get a middle value. And those from non-automatic leagues get the lowest value. This is done to lessen the effects of a superior team in a weak conference from building huge point margins and manipulating the system.
 
Teams will also gain bonuses for beating FCS teams. This has also been tweaked, giving a little more weight to those who beat Power Five teams as opposed to Group of Five teams. Also, a team will be penalized for losing to a school from a class below FCS (Division II, Division III, NAIA, NCCAA). The final piece of the puzzle is an RPI-style Strength of Schedule multiplier, where teams get bonuses and demerits just for playing teams listed previously in this paragraph.
 
The first rankings will appear after Week 4, September 25. These will be available on the Madness no later than Monday every week. There will also be a final edition released after the FCS Championship game in January. Like most ranking systems, a very strong or weak schedule or huge upsets, one way or the other, can have a drastic impact early on. As the season progresses the numbers, and teams, will sort themselves out and be much truer towards the end. So, if the rankings appear a little skewed early on, give it a little time. There’s no bias involved in the ratings and no human factors whatsoever.
 
RANK TEAM RATING Won Lost Prev RANK CONFERENCE RATING
1 Delaware 41.12 4 0 N/A 1 MISSOURI VALLEY 19.61
2 Incarnate Word 33.93 3 1 N/A 2 IVY LEAGUE 18.88
3 Holy Cross 33.57 4 0 N/A 3 COLONIAL 18.83
4 Montana 31.13 4 0 N/A 4 SOUTHERN 18.04
5 Samford 31.10 3 1 N/A 5 BIG SKY 17.88
6 Youngstown State 30.60 2 1 N/A 6 ATLANTIC SUN 16.62
7 South Dakota State 30.52 3 1 N/A 7 PATRIOT 13.52
8 Princeton 29.90 2 0 N/A 8 WESTERN 13.19
9 Mercer 29.36 3 1 N/A 9 OHIO VALLEY 12.80
10 Montana State 28.82 3 1 N/A 10 SOUTHLAND 11.70
11 Southern Illinois 28.24 2 2 N/A 11 BIG SOUTH 10.95
12 William & Mary 28.16 3 1 N/A 12 MID-EASTERN 7.20
13 Columbia 27.70 2 0 N/A 13 SOUTHWESTERN 5.84
14 Monmouth 27.66 2 2 N/A 14 PIONEER 5.62
15 New Hampshire 26.99 3 1 N/A 15 NORTHEAST 5.22
16 Elon 26.12 3 1 N/A      
17 Sacramento State 25.63 3 0 N/A      
18 Fordham 24.90 3 1 N/A      
19 Richmond 24.37 3 1 N/A      
20 Harvard 23.91 2 0 N/A      
21 Austin Peay 23.80 4 1 N/A      
22 Southeast Missouri 23.24 3 1 N/A      
23 North Dakota State 23.23 3 1 N/A      
24 Missouri State 23.09 2 2 N/A  
25 Rhode Island 23.08 2 2 N/A  
26 Weber State 22.45 4 0 N/A  
27 Jackson State 22.08 4 0 N/A      
28 Chattanooga 22.06 3 1 N/A  
29 Eastern Kentucky 22.02 2 2 N/A  
30 Eastern Washington 21.83 2 2 N/A  
31 Idaho 21.83 2 2 N/A  
32 UC-Davis 20.63 1 3 N/A      
33 Southeastern Louisiana 20.49 2 2 N/A      
34 Furman 19.85 3 1 N/A  
35 Yale 19.80 1 1 N/A  
36 North Carolina Central 19.77 4 0 N/A  
37 Illinois State 19.36 2 1 N/A  
38 Stephen F. Austin 17.72 2 2 N/A      
39 Southern Utah 17.54 3 1 N/A      
40 Tennessee-Martin 16.95 2 2 N/A  
41 South Dakota 16.83 1 3 N/A  
42 Western Carolina 16.59 2 2 N/A  
43 Penn 16.29 2 0 N/A  
44 Tennessee Tech 16.25 1 2 N/A  
45 Cal Poly 16.22 1 2 N/A  
46 Northern Iowa 15.99 1 3 N/A      
47 Albany 15.41 1 3 N/A  
48 Davidson 15.26 3 1 N/A  
49 Dartmouth 14.98 1 1 N/A  
50 Gardner-Webb 14.66 1 3 N/A      
51 Brown 14.29 1 1 N/A      
52 Stonehill 14.25 2 0 N/A  
53 Campbell 14.07 1 2 N/A      
54 Abilene Christian 13.98 3 1 N/A  
55 Hampton 13.62 3 1 N/A      
56 Houston Christian 12.80 1 2 N/A      
57 Central Arkansas 12.39 1 3 N/A      
58 North Carolina A&T 12.24 1 3 N/A  
59 Portland State 12.05 0 3 N/A  
60 Villanova 11.94 2 2 N/A  
61 East Tennessee State 11.81 2 2 N/A  
62 Merrimack 11.77 2 2 N/A  
63 North Dakota 11.52 2 2 N/A  
64 Virginia Military 11.11 1 2 N/A  
65 Colgate 10.81 1 3 N/A  
66 The Citadel 10.72 1 2 N/A  
67 Prairie View A&M 10.47 2 2 N/A  
68 Northern Colorado 10.34 2 2 N/A  
69 Kennesaw State 10.16 1 2 N/A  
70 Towson 10.14 2 2 N/A  
71 Lafayette 10.04 1 3 N/A  
72 Lehigh 9.68 1 3 N/A  
73 Charleston Southern 9.59 0 4 N/A      
74 Alcorn State 9.46 2 2 N/A  
75 Tarleton State 9.30 3 1 N/A  
76 St. Francis 9.28 2 2 N/A  
77 Stetson 9.17 3 1 N/A  
78 Eastern Illinois 9.14 1 3 N/A  
79 North Alabama 8.91 1 3 N/A  
80 Indiana State 8.40 1 2 N/A  
81 Butler 8.39 2 1 N/A  
82 Georgetown 8.17 1 3 N/A  
83 Northern Arizona 8.09 1 3 N/A  
84 Dayton 7.67 2 1 N/A      
85 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 7.66 2 2 N/A  
86 Bryant 7.35 1 3 N/A  
87 St. Thomas 7.31 2 1 N/A  
88 Cornell 7.00 1 1 N/A      
89 Lamar 6.79 0 4 N/A  
90 Lindenwood 6.69 2 1 N/A      
91 Utah Tech 6.56 1 3 N/A  
92 Western Illinois 6.56 0 4 N/A  
93 Tennessee State 6.49 0 3 N/A  
94 McNeese 6.47 1 3 N/A      
95 Nicholls 6.28 0 4 N/A  
96 Delaware State 6.26 2 2 N/A  
97 Wofford 6.10 0 4 N/A  
98 Southern 6.03 1 2 N/A  
99 Texas A&M-Commerce 5.93 2 2 N/A  
100 Morgan State 5.58 1 2 N/A  
101 South Carolina State 5.38 1 2 N/A  
102 Robert Morris 5.34 0 3 N/A  
103 Valparaiso 5.31 2 2 N/A  
104 Alabama State 5.08 2 2 N/A  
105 Northwestern State 5.00 1 3 N/A  
106 Texas Southern 4.73 1 3 N/A  
107 Morehead State 4.67 1 3 N/A  
108 Florida A&M 4.53 2 2 N/A  
109 San Diego 4.30 1 3 N/A  
110 Howard 4.26 1 3 N/A      
111 Duquesne 4.13 1 3 N/A      
112 Murray State 3.95 0 4 N/A  
113 Sacred Heart 3.47 2 2 N/A  
114 Stony Brook 3.39 0 3 N/A  
115 Idaho State 3.38 0 4 N/A  
116 Grambling State 2.93 1 3 N/A  
117 Maine 2.67 0 3 N/A      
118 Bucknell 2.65 0 3 N/A  
119 Bethune-Cookman 2.15 1 2 N/A  
120 Marist 2.07 1 2 N/A  
121 Long Island 0.75 0 4 N/A  
122 Wagner 0.48 0 3 N/A  
123 Presbyterian 0.29 1 3 N/A  
124 Central Connecticut State 0.19 0 4 N/A  
125 Drake 0.09 0 4 N/A  
126 Alabama A&M -0.82 0 4 N/A  
127 Norfolk State -2.22 0 4 N/A      
128 Mississippi Valley State -2.95 0 4 N/A